Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday granted relief to AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu by allowing his petition to quash a special ACB court order to the TS Anti-Corruption Bureau to probe the role of other alleged suspects in the cash-for-vote scam.
The ACB court on August 29 had ordered the investigation on a complaint by YSRC legislator from AP Alla Ramakrishna Reddy. This order was quashed by Justice T. Sunil Chowdary, while allowing a criminal petition filed by Mr Naidu.
The MLA had told the ACB court that the anti-corruption agency had failed to probe the role of Mr Naidu in the case of alleged bribing of no-minated TS MLA Elvis Stephenson during the MLC elections in Telan-gana to vote in favour of the TD candidate. The legislator alleged that the audio tapes of phone conversation of Mr Naidu and Mr Stephen-son showed the involvement of Mr Naidu.
Justice Chowdary said the basis for filing the complaint was the alleged conversation but there was no mention of how Mr Ramakrishna Reddy had secured the tape. He observed that the MLA had filed the complaint by obtaining the documents by other means.
The judge noted that the possibility that he had filed the complaint in order to take political and personal vengeance against Mr Naidu could not be ruled out. The MLA had no locus standi to file the complaint, the judge said.
The judge also considered the argument of ACB counsel V. Ravikiran Rao that if the AP legislator was allowed to intervene in the investigation, thousands of people may file similar petitions under the guise of public interest.
No case was proven against me: Naidu
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said on Friday that not a single case out of the 125 filed against him had been proven in court. “Integrity can neither be bought nor borrowed,” he said.
He said everybody knew about the cash-for-vote case and told YSRC leaders to “lead life with integrity.”
Meanwhile, YSRC MLA Alla Ramakris-hna Reddy said he would appeal the HC verdict.
